The First Love

by Beverly Lewis

  “Mamm had a little smile on her face, I remember.”

  The Lord Jesus came for her, thought Maggie, caressing Miriam’s long, straight hair as she rocked her and whispered how much she loved her.

  24

  Five days later, Maggie had to admit, if only to herself, that something was different. She had awakened that Monday feeling still better, strong enough to help Rachel and Grace with all the washing. She had even helped run the whites through the wringer while Rachel divided Dat’s and the boys’ trousers from their shirts. It felt wonderful to be more useful.

  The following morning, Maggie left the cane in her bedroom, wondering if any of the family might notice. For once, she helped set the table without stumbling around the benches on either side. She was also the first one up to clear the table and start heating water on the cookstove to wash the dishes.

  Leroy left the table and came over. “What’s happenin’? You’re not hobblin’ today.”

  She smiled. “It’s wunnerbaar-gut, that’s what.”

  He grinned, looking the happiest he had since Mamm died. “I really hope you’re better, sister.”

  “Denki,” Maggie replied as she watched him head out the side door, the screen door slapping behind him. Oh, she wished she might talk to him soon. She’d noticed tiny hints lately that he might be coming around. Ever so slowly.

  Grace got the dish detergent out of the cupboard below the sink and poured cold water into the deep sink, filling it partway. She glanced at Maggie. “Should I ask how you’re feelin’?” she said quietly.

  “I’m a bit stronger, jah,” Maggie volunteered.

  “I see you’re not usin’ your cane.” Grace smiled sweetly.

  “So far, I don’t need it today.” It felt so good to be free of it, and Maggie breathed a prayer of thanks as she added a stick of wood to the cookstove.

  When the mail was delivered that afternoon, there was a letter from Cousin Lila. Maggie sat right down on the front steps and opened the envelope, finding a note from Lila, as well as a sealed letter. Glenn asked me to send the enclosed letter, she had written. I hope it’s all right.

  Maggie opened the sealed letter and began to read.

  Dear Maggie,

  How are you? Hopefully you’re not surprised to receive this letter!

  Thank you again for setting up that mill tour with your father. It was very kind of him to take time out of his busy day; my mother is still talking about it!

  I had wondered if we might have a chance to talk again and to say good-bye. But I understand from your cousins that the fact that you came to any of the meetings was quite remarkable. My family’s so glad you did.

  And thanks for allowing me to share my testimony, Maggie. In some small way, I hope it helps. Know that I will continue to pray for your healing . . . and for God’s highest and best for your life.

  Your friend and brother

  in Christ,

  Glenn Brubaker

  Maggie closed the letter and placed it back in Lila’s envelope, truly surprised. She looked across the road at the cornstalks swaying gently in the breeze, glad to have met Glenn. He helped to plant a yearning for God’s Word in my heart.

  Barefoot, Maggie wandered down the porch steps and around the side of the house, where Mamm’s roses were still in bloom. Walking in the sun-warmed soil, Maggie heard the sounds of summer all around her—birdsong and insects buzzing in the bushes. The air was heavy with the sweetness of roses and all manner of other flowers that Rachel had planted near the house.

  She pondered Glenn’s kindness and the bond they’d shared. His thoughtfully written farewell reminded her of his promise to pray for her.

  To think that this letter arrived on my healthiest day of the summer! she thought, knowing she must return to help Grace with the mending inside. Is it a sign that I’m on the way to being healed?

  With a joyful sigh, she decided to walk to the mill later that afternoon to meet her father, once chores were done. Like old times, she thought, making her way to the side door, grateful to feel better.

  ———

  “Your face is all rosy,” Grace remarked as Maggie worked with her in the sewing room off the side of the kitchen nearest the small bathroom.

  Maggie nodded and smiled at her sister. “I’m thankful for this reprieve.”

  Tilting her head, Grace frowned. “A reprieve?”

  “Remember, I’ve felt nearly this well before. The last time was in the early spring.”

  Grace nodded, seemingly lost in thought. Something else was on her mind. She mentioned having read in The Budget about an Arthur, Illinois, Amish girl who’d put a note in a bottle while on vacation and tossed it into the Mississippi River. “She wanted to see how far it would travel, and if anyone would find the note and contact her.”

  Maggie perked up at this. “Did anyone?”

  “Jah, and I guess the fella who found it is from Memphis, Tennessee. Evidently they’ve become pen pals.”

  “Such a sweet story!”

  “Makes me wonder if they’ll remain friends,” Grace added.

  “It’s fascinating how God brings people together,” Maggie said, switching out the thread in her needle from white to blue to stitch up a small tear in Leroy’s shirt. “But it wonders me how a bottle could travel so far and not break along the way.”

  Grace appeared to consider this. “I guess it was just s’posed to.”

  “God took care of it. That’s what I think.” These past few days, Maggie had often considered divine Providence. Could it be that Jimmy Beiler and Aunt Nellie were supposed to have shown her the ad for the pills from the health food store? Was that part of God’s plan?

  In the past, certain products had occasionally helped Maggie for a short while. But for whatever reason, a time came when they no longer had any effect.

  I’ll keep trusting God day by day, Maggie thought. And be thankful for the blessings I already have.

  ———

  Maggie finished with her mending a mere twenty minutes before Dat would finish up at the mill. So she told Grace where she was going and took her time walking down the narrow lane, through the trees and out to Olde Mill Road. The sun was so hot, she removed her blue bandanna and let the wind ripple against her tightly wound hair bun.

  When she reached the near side of the mill, Maggie sat down to wait for her father, the grass cool beneath her feet. And while she waited, she prayed, thankful for God’s goodness to her and to her family. She also prayed for the Brubaker family, and for the many people who would be attending the tent meetings in Souderton. And she prayed for Jimmy and his future, as well. That was harder than other prayers, but it was the right thing to do.

  In a few minutes, she noticed her father coming this way and waved to him.

  “Hullo there, Maggie!”

  She rose to greet him. “Thought I’d surprise ya, Dat.”

  He was grinning now. “Surprise me, ya did!”

  She shared then how she’d missed her childhood days of coming to meet him. “Ach, how could I be so fit those first eleven years, and then become so sickly?” she asked. “And now, look at me: I’m havin’ a real gut day.”

  “You do seem to be getting stronger,” Dat agreed.

  “I’d really like to earn some money to help with the expensive supplements,” she said, mentioning that she’d thought of working for Betsy Lapp at her bakery. “Ain’t far, and maybe Leroy could drop me off and pick me up.”

  “Have ya already talked to Betsy ’bout this?”

  “Nee, wanted to know what you thought,” Maggie said, walking in step with him on the roadside to avoid the occasional buggy traffic.

  “Why don’t we wait to see how you’re feeling when the pills are close to running out before decidin’?”

  She had wondered if he might suggest this, wise as he was.

  “Say, this is beside the point, but I’ve been thinkin’ about making a Scripture wall plaque,” he said. “And I thought you could help
me with it.” He suggested she could put the stain on it when the etching was finished.

  “Sure, I’ll help.” Maggie wondered which verse he would choose but didn’t ask.

  They were about a third of the way home when Maggie noticed Jimmy Beiler riding this way, driving his father’s market wagon. As he drew closer, Jimmy waved to them and called a hullo, his expression delighted and quite surprised.

  “Now, there’s a wunnerbaar young man,” Dat said after he passed by.

  “You sound like Gracie . . . and Cousin Lila,” Maggie told him, remembering how Dat had asked Jimmy to take her home after the mill tour.

  “S’pose that makes three of us.” Dat chuckled.

  “Jimmy’s gonna be our next blacksmith, from what I’m hearin’,” she offered now.

  “And a mighty fine one, I’m sure.”

  Maggie smiled, enjoying her walk with her father and looking forward to doing this again another day, Lord willing.

  25

  When can we go for a walk together?” Maggie asked Leroy, catching him near the hand pump the next day before the noon meal.

  He removed his straw hat, and she held it for him as he worked the pump handle hard. “Too busy,” he said.

  “You seem upset.”

  “Just makin’ plans to leave here.”

  Oh dear. She refused to react, though she certainly wanted to. Where could a boy of fourteen possibly go? Quietly, she asked, “Where to, Bruder?”

  “Our cousins in Mount Joy offered me three weeks of work on their farm. I’ll be stayin’ with them.”

  Maggie sighed. This wasn’t what she’d expected to hear. More than ever, she wanted to talk further with her troubled brother, like they’d always done before Mamm died. Heart to heart.

  Leroy gave her a glance. “You don’t think I’ll do it,” he said. “Do ya?”

  “So it’s all set, then?” Maggie asked.

  “Not accordin’ to Dat, it ain’t.”

  She was baffled. “Are you tellin’ me you’re goin’ to go against his will?”

  Leroy eyed the house. “I’d be out of the way of the lovebirds.”

  “Oh, for pity’s sake . . . I’m not sure you know your own mind.”

  “An’ that’s where you’re wrong!” He drank from the old cup they kept by the pump, then hurried toward the little Dawdi Haus, opened the screen door, and walked right inside.

  What on earth? Maggie couldn’t believe her brother would talk so. And why was he going to Nellie’s for the noon meal?

  Maggie was so beside herself, she pumped up some water, splashed it all over her face and neck, and stood there, letting it drip down onto her dress and apron.

  ———

  “Why not just let him, dear?” Rachel asked her husband, upstairs in the privacy of their bedroom. “Three weeks might make Leroy miss home . . . and miss you.”

  “He’s defyin’ me, that’s why,” Joseph said.

  Rachel touched Joseph’s shoulder as they stood beside the window overlooking the meadow. “I know you don’t have long before goin’ back to the mill, but just think ’bout this—what if ya give him some time to cool off? Maybe some time away will—”

  “Time away from the very family he needs to be with?” Joseph’s voice rose; then he shook his head.

  “I’m only tryin’ to help.”

  “I know you are, love. I know.” He slipped his arm around her and kissed her cheek. “I’ll be late for work if I don’t head back now.”

  “All right,” she said. “But remember—he’s just a boy.”

  “That’s exactly it. Leroy’s too young to make this kind of decision. You and I both know his reasons for wantin’ to help my cousins.”

  Slowly, she let out a breath as Joseph headed for the doorway. His feet were quick on the stairs. Truly, she had no idea how this was going to play out. Leroy clearly needed a break, and Joseph was determined for his son to behave the way he always had before Joseph’s remarriage.

  That’s the problem in a nutshell, Rachel thought, wishing she could have a nap. Here lately, she felt ever so tired.

  Two days later, Cousin Lila borrowed Luke’s car after supper and came to visit Maggie. While she and Maggie sat out on the front porch, she confessed to being curious about Glenn’s letter. “If it’s not too nosy of me,” Lila said, eyes alight.

  “You came over just to ask that?” Maggie smiled.

  “Well, you know me; I’m as curious as a cat.”

  Just then, they heard a meow. “Look, it’s Siggy!” Maggie was laughing. “Right on cue.”

  Aunt Nellie’s cat came strolling across the adjoining porch and squeezed through the balusters, coming right up to Maggie.

  Lila giggled as Maggie reached down to pet him. “He’s fond of being rubbed under his neck, but not on his head. Never that,” she said. “Most cats prefer beneath the neck and tummy.”

  “I wonder if he’ll let me pet him this time,” Lila said, leaning down to softly coax him over to her. “Here, Siggy, Siggy.”

  Arching and purring, Siggy circled Maggie’s leg. Soon, he opened his mouth and yawned widely, then flopped down onto Maggie’s bare foot.

  “Well, lookee there—he clearly prefers you,” Lila said. “So . . . you were goin’ to tell me ’bout Glenn’s letter.”

  “Oh, that’s right!” Maggie began to share everything Glenn had written. “It was nice of him. He sure didn’t have to do that.”

  Lila nodded. “He’s a very caring person . . . should make a good minister someday.” She sighed. “It was bittersweet to say good-bye to the Brubakers following the final tent meeting.”

  She looked sad, and Maggie wondered if Lila and her family would stay in touch with the evangelist and his family.

  “Wouldn’t it be interesting to hear him give a sermon?” Lila said just then, eyes sparkling. “You know, years from now, if he has his own church?”

  “It would. Seems to me that sharing the testimony of his healing with everyone, like he did with me, would be a fine place to start.”

  Lila leaned back in the wooden rocker and rested her long arms on those of the chair. She was quiet for a while, just sitting there and watching the buggies go by. Then she said, “Are you glad you went to the meetings?”

  “Oh jah! They made a big difference for me in many ways.” Maggie mentioned how she was reading her Bible at every opportunity and trying to memorize certain verses, too.

  Lila reached over and squeezed her hand. “Sounds like you’re growing in the Lord.”

  Maggie was touched by this. “I’m so pleased you came over. I’ve missed seein’ ya.”

  “You seem really well today,” Lila observed now. “No limp.”

  “Nee, not for several days now.” She told Lila about the new supplements. “And I’m makin’ an effort to be thankful for each day, like it’s a fresh page.”

  “Will ya keep taking them?”

  “Dat and I’ve discussed that. I’m waiting a little longer to decide.”

  “Does this mean you’ll be goin’ back to Singings, then?” The twinkle in Lila’s eyes was more mischievous now.

  “Ya know, I just might.” Despite her recent prayer for Jimmy’s future happiness, her thoughts kept straying to him. She hoped Lila wouldn’t come right out and ask about Jimmy this visit, not when he wasn’t really Maggie’s to care about. “I’ll decide before Sunday, but I’m sure Gracie will want me to go, since I’m feelin’ better.”

  They sat and talked leisurely until Rachel tapped on the inside of the screen door and peeked her head out. “Would yous like some cold lemonade? Miriam and I made a fresh batch.”

  “Sure, we’ll come in for it,” Maggie said, rising and disturbing Siggy, who let out a loud meow. “Aw, I’m so sorry, cat.” She reached down to pet him.

  She and Lila headed into the warm, stuffy house, glad to get their lemonade and return to the breezy porch.

  “How many times did ya go to the tent for meetings?” Maggie asked Lila as
they drank their lemonade.

  “I lost count, but it’s safe to say maybe three times a week. Sometimes more. Luke, of course, was there nearly every night for all six weeks. He even talked of wantin’ to go along to help with the next crusade.” Lila shifted in the chair, careful not to spill the glass in her hand. “I wouldn’t be surprised if my parents decide to drive over to Souderton one of these evenings. They’ve become close friends with Lloyd and Esther.”

  Maggie nodded and wondered what Glenn’s parents were like in their normal, run-of-the-mill daily life. She sipped some more of her lemonade, then said, “If you do go and happen to see Glenn, please tell him I appreciated his letter.”

  “I will,” Lila said, nodding. “He is one amazing fella.”

  “Jah.” It crossed Maggie’s mind then that maybe, just maybe, her pretty cousin was secretly interested in the evangelist’s friendly son. Can it be?

  26

  Thought I’d come over and check on ya,” Rachel told Ruth Zook as she entered the back door of the Zooks’ home. Rachel found her neighbor busy with some tatting over in a cozy kitchen corner where an upholstered chair backed up to the sunny window.

  “How gut to see ya, dear. It’s always nice to have company,” Ruth said, waving her toward the nearby rocker. “Sam’s been so busy with the third cutting of hay, and now the trim on the house is needing paintin’. Sam and our son-in-law have been sanding it, gettin’ it ready.”

  Rachel had sat with Ruth in this very spot more than a few times, discussing relationships and what it might mean for Rachel to be courted by a widower with children. Oh, the frank talks they’d had!

  “Are ya doin’ all right?” Ruth asked, interrupting Rachel’s musing.

  “Oh, just remembering how helpful you were when I stayed here with you and Sam, before Joseph and I tied the knot.”

  Ruth nodded her head slowly. “It was a sweet time for me,” she said. “Felt like I had yet another daughter in the house.”

  “I don’t see how Joseph and I would’ve gotten together otherwise.”